Dedicated bandwidth data communication switch backplane

(19)

(11)

EP 0 952 702 A3

(12)	EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88)	Date of publication A3:
	30.10.2002 Bulletin 2002/44

(43)	Date of publication A2:
	27.10.1999 Bulletin 1999/43

(21)	Application number: 99440076.0

(22)	Date of filing: 19.04.1999

(51)	International Patent Classification (IPC)⁷: H04L 12/44, H04L 12/28, H04L 12/56, G06F 13/40

(84)	Designated Contracting States:
	AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE
	Designated Extension States:
	AL LT LV MK RO SI

(30)

Priority:

20.04.1998 US 63493
17.09.1998 US 154966

(71)	Applicant: Xylan Corporation
	Calabasas, California 91302 (US)

(72)	Inventors:
	King, Wai Redondo Beach, CA 90277 (US) Stone, Geoffrey C. Malibu, CA 90265 (US) Haywood, Christopher Thousands Oaks, CA 91362 (US)

(74)	Representative: Wörz, Volker
	Dreiss, Fuhlendorf, Steimle & Becker, Postfach 10 37 62 70032 Stuttgart 70032 Stuttgart (DE)

(54)	Dedicated bandwidth data communication switch backplane

(57) A LAN switch has a backplane matrix in which each controller has a dedicated packet bus for propagating packet data. Each bus has a root interfacing with the transmitting (root) controller and a plurality of leaves interfacing with receiving (leaf) controllers. This configuration enables each controller to simultaneously transmit packet data on the root of a bus and receive packet data off a plurality of leaves of other buses without contention. An efficient filtering and stalling system employed at the receive side of the backplane prevents the highly parallel traffic from causing receive side congestion.

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